


Strix

by CherryFlamingo



Category: SPY x FAMILY (Manga)
Genre: Gen, Polyphonte, References to Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, Strix Lore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:40:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26983783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CherryFlamingo/pseuds/CherryFlamingo
Summary: Calling a family-based mission Operation Strix is awfully morbid.
Relationships: Anya Forger & Loid Forger | Twilight
Comments: 8
Kudos: 28





	Strix

**Author's Note:**

> Seriously, does anyone know why Endo Tatsuya named the mission Operation Strix?  
> Inspired by the Ea-Nasir (the really crappy copper salesman from Mesopotamia) fic I read the other day, “Pay Me Baby, Treat Me Right” by tricatular for meh_guh.

** Strix**

“Strix, strix, by the River Styx, how she cries her war song.

Jeers, jeers, from its ruby seers, don’t let her catch you empty-mouthed.

Have might, have sight,

Else, Hades looms over your bed tonight.”

-

It is an unknown song in the East that all children in the West knows by heart, so it comes as a surprise when Loid hears the verse from his daughter’s mouth one Saturday evening.

“Where did you hear that from?” Yor smiles as she looked over at Anya, a quizzical expression on her face.

“From the park.” Anya smiles brightly, pleased with herself. “A boy I met was visiting from the west!”

Loid is troubled. While he’s pleased that a part of his Westalisi culture is passed down to the much younger Anya, this is something that can get them arrested under suspicion of treason and espionage. The last thing he wants is to draw attention to his cover.

Loid doesn’t hide his frown. “That’s quite an unlucky song. Horrible things are known to happen when it’s sung.” A partial lie.

“You mean Mama and Papa might even get divorced?” Anya asked, horrified, thinking of the worst possible thing her young mind can think of. Yor looks over with alarm.

“Well, the story this song is from is very sad.” Loid doesn’t bother to correct her when she’s not totally wrong.

“I want to hear it!” Anya states, hopping up from where Bond laid.

“I’ll tell you after you get ready for bed.” Loid says as the girl teeters off to the bathroom.

* * *

“A long, long time ago, in a land far, far away, there used to be a girl who was the granddaughter of a very powerful man. The man’s name was Ares,” Loid begins, sitting on the edge of Anya’s twin-sized bed. The girl cuddled Mr.Penguin as she laid comfortably with her head on the pillow.

“The girl did not want to get married, so she left home to live in the woods with her aunt, Artemis.

_The virginal Polyphonte rejected intimate relations and committed herself to a life without men in the house of Artemis._

“However, the girl’s other aunt, Aphrodite, was unhappy with her choice, so she tricked the girl into marriage.”

_Aphrodite, who felt scorned by Polyphonte’s lack of celebratory activities, induced the girl into unbridled lust for a bear._

“That doesn’t sound right,” Anya gasps, to which Loid pats her indulgingly before continuing his story.

“It was an unhappy marriage. When the girl gave birth to two beautiful baby boys, she was chased from her husband’s house.”

_Artemis, who stood witness to the affair, chased the blood of Ares from her domain. Polyphonte returned home, unmarried with two beasts for children, whose names were Agrius and Orius._

“Because the boys were born from a loveless union, they could not find joy in anything they did, much less the food they ate, so they instead ate…” Loid peeked over at Anya, whose eyes are wide with fear.

“What, Papa? You can’t just end there!”

“…wary travelers who don’t brush their teeth,” Loid continues lamely.

Seeing Anya relieved (she brushes her teeth everyday) and her head back on the pillow, Loid resumes the story, “The boss of the girl’s grandfather, Zeus, was troubled, so he sent his righthand man to put the girl and her children in jail.”

_Agrius and Orius did not discriminate between man and god in their disdain. The brothers could not satisfy their hunger with the food of mortal men, so they freely indulged in mortal flesh in its stead. Zeus, in detestation of the monsters, demanded Hermes to dismember their limbs._

“Ares heard his family was in trouble, so he came back to save them. While the family could not be forgiven for what they did, Ares was still a very powerful man, so everybody turned into a different kind of bird.”

_Ares saved Polyphonte’s sons from their fates, and with Hermes’s help, transformed each member of the family into a different bird._

“The girl turnd into a Strix, while her children became an eagle and a vulture, and that’s where the song comes from.” Loid clapped his lap.

_Polyphonte became a Strix, a harbinger of war who does not indulge in food nor sleep. Agrius and Orius each turned into an eagle and a vulture, and they continued to crave human flesh. Their servant, who prayed to the gods, was turned into a woodpecker, and thus, became the one good omen._

“Does this mean they never saw each other again?” Anya said quietly.

“Something like that,” Loid responds as he gets up from her bed and pats her head. “Don’t think too much about it. Good night.”

Loid shuts the door quietly as he prepares for bed. There are still mission documents to review and journals to prepare before he can get any sleep at all.

If the day ever comes, he will tell Anya the whole story when she is older– when she experiences her menarche and he can no longer keep shielding her eyes, round and bright as they may be.

**Author's Note:**

> I used the Strix Wikipedia page and https://topostext.org/work/216 for reference.  
> I tried my best with making the actual story sound as English-Greek as possible.


End file.
